Terror in the Night
by Miranda
Summary: When a case goes awry Tom and Cassy find themselves in a dangerous situation. *Finished*
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the show, if I did, it never would have been taken off the air.  
  
AN: I wrote this a long time ago, and it was posted on one of the Silk Stalkings fanfic groups on yahoo, but I was bored and figured what the heck, I'll post it here too. =)  
  
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Terror in the Night Part 1  
  
Tom Ryan woke up with a pounding headache, the sharp stabbing pain increasing every time he moved his head. He fought against it to force his eyes around the room. He took in the fact that he was no longer in  
  
the darkening streets of the city, but instead in a plain white room that contained nothing but himself, the chair in which he sat, and a dirty mattress laying next to the steel door.  
  
He tried to connect his muddled thoughts and figure out what the hell happened and how exactly he had gotten here.  
  
The last thing he remembered was walking down a dark street talking with Cass-Cassy! Where was she? Was she all right?  
  
He tried to stand up and make his way to the door, but was stopped by the coarse rope that held his tied hands behind his back and to the chair.  
  
He struggled against them, trying to find a weakness he could use to work his way out of them. He was becoming more and more worried as pieces of other memories came flittering back to him. He and Cassy had been undercover, posing as innocent, naïve tourists who had taken a wrong turn down a dark street which coincidently had been the recent site of three homicides. The killer, as far as they could deduct, was targeting tourists who were new to Palm Beach and had a lot of cash.  
  
Tom and Cassy had been working that angle almost all day, pretending to  
  
revel in each sight their eyes beheld, and flashing enough cash to leave whomever was watching with no misconceptions about how much money they had on them to spend. They were even enjoying themselves, relaxing  
  
as they walked about, taking in everything that they had recently found themselves forgetting, the warmth of the sunshine, the gentle salt-misted breeze... They had been about to call it a day, and though worried that nothing had happened to give away their killer,  
  
they had found themselves in a relaxed congenial mood. They decided to take a little bit of a risk and walk down the shadow covered street. They had four other officers as back-up, this wasn't that high of a  
  
mission on the danger scale, what could happen?  
  
Tom remembered that thought with an ironic twist of his mouth. 'Well, I asked, and I guess we were more naïve than we should have been.' They hadn't thought that they were dealing with more than two killers, robbers like these guys usually worked in pairs.  
  
They had been laughing at the memories of their day when three  
  
gunshots pierced the quiet night. They spun around to see the shapes of the two officers who had been following at a discreet distance huddled on the ground, unmoving.  
  
Six men broke away from the shadows as the other two officers appeared cautiously rounding the corner of the building. The sound of shots being fired began to blend into one huge symphony of noise as Tom and Cassy took cover behind a dumpster. They watched, trying to get a shot at the killers as another officer and one of the shooters fell to the  
  
ground. They watched with a growing sense of fear as the last officer hesitated in the grief of his fallen partner and was rewarded with a bullet to the chest.  
  
Tom and Cassy were firing now at anything that moved, but in the second that they watched their last form of help crumple to the ground all of the men shrank back into the shadows. They fired at any sound as they  
  
tried to see through the black night. 'When did it get so dark?' was the last thought that Tom had before hands materialized from behind them to grab Cassy and hit him along his temple with something hard and  
  
unresisting that rendered him unconscious. 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: See part 1  
  
AN: By the way, feel free to review. Hint Hint  
  
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Terror in the Night Part 2  
  
Tom was now franticly trying to work his way out of the ropes which held him captive.  
  
He realized that their undercover assignment had worked all too well.  
  
Now they were going to be the killers' next victims. He tried to figure out how long he had been out, and how much time they had before someone wandered down the alley and found the bodies, providing the killers  
  
hadn't cleaned up and called the police, or someone noticed that six officers were missing and began a search.  
  
His thoughts were interrupted by the sharp bang of the door as it flew open and slammed against the wall. He jerked his head up, a mistake that caused him to moan in pain before his eyes became focused on  
  
the sight in the doorway.  
  
A tall man held a bound and gagged Cassy by the arm before shoving her onto the mattress. She looked up at him with a murderous look as the slamming door cut off his maniacal laughter.  
  
Her head hung for a moment until she finally looked around her new surroundings and her eyes fell on Tom.  
  
She tried to speak, but all that came out was a mumbled sound. Tom took the opportunity to speak to her first. "Are you all right?" was the first thing he asked. She nodded her head as she began working her  
  
foot out of her shoe. Tom was to confused to notice or think about why she would be doing something so strange and continued to shoot questions at her.  
  
"Where are we, do you know? Do you remember whathappened? Do you know how long we've been here? Are you sure you're okay?" He paused to take a breath as Cassy shot him a 'be patient and wait' look. He watched almost laughing as her foot came free from the shoe and she bend her leg toward her head, using her toes to get the gag out of her mouth.  
  
She sucked in a deep breath before smiling at the look on his face.  
  
"Those yoga classes are coming in handy," she said. "And now that I can actually answer your questions, I have no idea where we are, they knocked me out too,"  
  
Tom realized that in his joy of seeing her alive he had missed the fact that there was a bruise on the side of her face, but couldn't get a word in to comment as she continued, "I remember what happened, but I'm not sure how everything got so screwed up, I know we've been in this building for about 15 minutes, I woke up as they were putting me in my room, but I don't know how long it took to get here, and yes, I'm sure I'm okay. Are you?" she asked with a worried look to his bleeding head.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little sore," he said. "Why did they put you in here with me? Have they said anything to you at all about why we're being held here or why we're not dead?  
  
"They haven't said anything to me about why we're here, but I'm not complaining about the fact that we aren't dead yet."  
  
"Me either, I just wondered if they had said anything to you, because this is the first time I've talked with or seen anyone. I just woke up," he said with a hint of guilt.  
  
"Well, that's not your fault, and I think that's the reason I'm in here with you. They were probably waiting for you to wake up. There's a camera in the corner, that's how they knew." Tom looked up surprised  
  
to see the blinking red light, he hadn't noticed that when he was looking around.  
  
"Don't feel bad, I didn't notice mine until ten minutes after I was in there. I guess we're both still a little confused," Cassy said when she noticed that the presence of the camera was something new to Tom.  
  
"Well, I'm guessing its only about 11, when we started down that street it was about ten after ten, that that means that we have about 8 or 9 hours before its light out and people find the bodies, and about 10 or so hours before we're late for work and someone notices, if they haven't started looking already. I hope all those gun shots woke up someone, it'd be pretty hard not to, and that they're doing something about it."  
  
"Me too," Tom agreed. "Well, I guess now we just wait."  
  
"Wait for what?"  
  
"I'm not sure I want to know."  
  
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Harry was just about to get ready for bed when the phone rang at 10:43.  
  
"What is it?" he asked the officer on the phone.  
  
"Yeah, I'll be right there. Thanks." The phone was dropped back into its cradle as Frannie looked over and saw the worried look on Harry's face.  
  
"What is it Harry? What happened?"  
  
"Someone reported gunshots over in the alley off of Oceanview. The officers on the scene identified the bodies there as the four officers I had covering Tom and Cassy. They were working undercover, and the bodies they found were supposed to be back-up, and now they're missing." 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I still don't own them.  
  
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Terror in the Night Part 3  
  
Tom and Cassy were both silent now, waiting for something to happen, anything to give them an idea or hope of getting out of this place alive. Whoever was keeping them was either busy trying to figure out what to do with them, or enjoyed watching them grow more and more nervous as the minutes ticked by. Noise was absent from the building, neither of them had heard anything indicating another human presence in the building except for when Cassy had been brought to Tom's room.  
  
"Maybe they just plan to leave us here to starve," Cassy couldn't help but voice her concern. "It doesn't sound like there's anyone around, so I doubt anyone will find us soon. Do you think they just plan to let  
  
us starve?"  
  
"No, I don't think so. If they were just going to let us die it would have been way easier and a hell of a lot quicker to just shoot us like they did our back-up. I think they have a reason for keeping us  
  
here."  
  
"Hostages? No, they could have just killed us, no one knows who they are." She said thinking out loud.  
  
"Ransom?"  
  
"That was my thought, these guys are robbers, they kill for money, I figure they see us as a nice way to get the state to pay up a pretty sum. After all, we're police officers, we work for the state."  
  
"Tom," Cassy said dropping her voice to a whisper in case the camera also had a recorder, "you know as well as I do that the government hates to pay up to kidnappers, do you really think that they would  
  
actually pay to get us out of here, instead of just rushing in here to get the bad guys and be the hero?"  
  
"Well, It's nice to know you haven't lost your optimistic point of view," he said sarcastically as Cassy shot him a look.  
  
"You know what I meant."  
  
"Yeah, I do. Think about it Cass, we're as good as dead, do you really think that even getting the money, assuming that's what they're up to, that they are really going to let us go, you've seen at least one of  
  
them. Do you really think they're going to let us live?"  
  
"Nice to see you haven't lost your sunny out-look on life, either."  
  
"Yes, but your partner does post an interesting question," a voice boomed into the room as the door swung open to reveal a large muscular man with jet black hair and cold green eyes. If it weren't for those eyes, he might have been attractive. He walked into the room, not bothering to close the door behind him. Tom could see the white walled hallway past the door, but nothing else. 'Apparently he's not worried  
  
about someone wandering past and seeing him, or us,' Cassy thought to herself.  
  
"Ahh, I see our beautiful young guest has found a way to free her voice," the man said eyeing the gag hanging around Cassy's throat. He kneeled down next to her and ran a finger down the side of her face, smiling as she jerked away. "It was a shame to have to hide that mouth before, but Jerry doesn't like profanity, and from what I heard, I'm not surprised he found a way to shut you up. Me, I'm much more open, and I like hearing a woman's voice saying dirty words."  
  
"Why am I not surprised," Cassy said bitingly.  
  
"Oh, you have a mean tongue, do you? Does it taste as hot as it sounds?" He forced her head to his and kissed her, forcing her mouth open as she tried to jerk her head away.  
  
"Get your damn hands off her! Don't touch her!" Tom yelled, renewing his struggles against the ropes.  
  
The man ignored him as he started to run his hand down the front of her shirt, pinning her against the mattress.  
  
He kissed her again forcefully on the mouth when she opened her lips to protest. He started to unbutton the garment, closing out Tom's demands that he let her go. He smiled at Cassy as he whispered in her ear.  
  
"Do you know how long its been since I've had the chance to have someone as perfect as you at the hands of my every desire?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess it is kinda hard to have any woman want you while you're busy killing people for their money, isn't it?" Cassy shot back, trying to ignore the feel of his hands roaming over her body.  
  
"Oh, that, does that sorta thing bother you?" he asked pulling himself upright. "I guess you'll have to get over it though, because after I'm done taking care of business, you and I are going to have some fun, the  
  
rest of the guys are looking forward to it too. Maybe I'll even let your boyfriend watch," he said glaring at Tom.  
  
"You touch her again and I'll kill you," Tom growled.  
  
The man walked over to the chair.  
  
"Oh, will you tough guy. You shouldn't make threats you can't keep, and I'll tell you now, I will touch her again, I'll do more than touch her, and so will the rest of my guys, so-what are you going to do about it?"  
  
Tom drew back and spit as hard as he could in the man's face. The man raised his hand and delivered a blow to his face that caused the bone in his jaw to crack from the force.  
  
Tom lost his battle to stay conscious as the man stormed out the door and slammed it closed behind him, making sure that both of his  
  
prisoners heard the definitive click of the dead bolt before he walked away.  
  
'That man is going to pay for that, no one who spits in my face gets away with it,' he said to himself as he walked back towards the front  
  
of the building.  
  
"Never." 


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: See chapter 1  
  
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Terror in the Night Part 4  
  
The police station despite the late hour was a bee hive of activity. Harry was already in professional mode shouting orders at everyone in his sight, pushing the growing fear for his friends to the back of his  
  
mind. He had to concentrate. He had several officers gathering all the information that Tom and Cassy had collected on the robbers. So far he had a whole lot of nothing.  
  
"What!" he yelled as a uniformed detective knocked on his door.  
  
"Excuse me Captain, but this young woman was the one who called in about the shots and she has something she'd like to add to her earlier statement, I thought you should hear it too."  
  
A tall, slender young woman with golden curls walked into the office.  
  
"Hello," she said introducing herself in a strong voice, "my name is Emma Andrews."  
  
"Captain Harry Lipshitz," he returned shaking her hand. "I understand it was you who called in about the shots fired in the alley."  
  
"Yes, sir," she said sitting down in the nearest chair, "I just recently moved here and I'm renting one of the apartments lining the alley. I was just about to get ready for bed when I heard three shots fired. I went to the window, and about five or six men were standing there next to two bodies. All of a sudden two cops came around the corner and they all started shooting at each other. The one cop got a hit and they both fell, and then the other cop got hit. After that, they all disappeared. I could hear them shooting at something else or someone else shooting at them, but I didn't see anything else, and then it just got quiet."  
  
"Did you see anyone else in the alley? A man and a woman?"  
  
"No, I didn't see anyone else, I was watching everything else go down, and I didn't even think to look around, my eyes just wouldn't leave the bodies," she said, her voice starting to shake.  
  
"That's okay, its understandable. All that is here in your statement, what was it that you wanted to add?"  
  
"I think I recognized one of the people."  
  
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"Tom! Tom, can you hear me?" Cassy's voice penetrated the darkness around Tom's fuzzy thoughts. He groaned as he attempted to lift his head.  
  
"Are you all right?" Cassy asked as she attempted to get to her feet. While he had been unconscious she had been able to twist her arms under her body, to the end of her feet and up, until they were in front of her.  
  
Once she got her shaky feet under her, she was next to the chair, pushing the hair away from his eyes with as much gentleness as she could. "Are you okay?" she repeated.  
  
Tom clenched his hands, trying to get the pain radiating from his face under control. He nodded slowly, the pain coming in renewed waves as he opened his mouth to ask her the same thing.  
  
He croaked out, "You?" before he gave up and allowed his head to drop  
  
back down.  
  
He lifted his head up just enough to see her nod. "I'm fine," she said.  
  
"I'm sorry he hit you."  
  
"It's not your fault, Cass," Tom said seriously as he pushed the throbbing of his mouth out of his thoughts to look her in the eye, "I couldn't let him do that to you."  
  
"I would have been fine, let me handle him, okay?" she said avoiding his eyes. "Just try not to get yourself killed, 'cause then where would I be?" she added with a slight smile.  
  
"I hope someone's looking for us already," Tom said.  
  
"They are," Cassy said stroking his hair as he slipped back into oblivion. "I hope," she whispered to herself, "I hope."  
  
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"It was really dark," Emma said as she explained what she saw to Harry, "but one of the men stopped after the cops came around the corner and for a second I could she his face from the light of the street. I've  
  
seen him before, he always hangs around in front of building, like he's waiting for someone, but I've never seen anyone meet him. I remember him really well, he's always kinda creeped me out."  
  
"Do you think you'd be able to work with a sketch artist and look through some books to see if you recognize anyone?" Harry asked hopefully.  
  
"Yeah, I can do that," she said rising to her feet again and starting towards the door.  
  
"Great, let's get started." Harry told her as he nodded to the man who had been waiting outside the door and explained what he wanted to have done. 'Just hang in there a little longer guys, don't be dead on  
  
me,' he thought with a light of hope. 


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I still have no legal claims over the characters of the show.  
  
AN: Sorry this part is so short. They get longer.  
  
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Terror in the Night Part 5  
  
The dark haired man, still steaming at Tom, slammed open the door to the office at the front of the abandoned apartment building. The other four men were already there waiting.  
  
"Where the hell have you been, Jack?" a slender man in a charcoal suit demanded.  
  
"Sorry Dan, I had to take care of something first," he replied apologetically.  
  
"I told you before, Jack," the man said warningly, "keep away from them. I don't go for that kind of stuff and you know it. I didn't want to bring that girl anyway. I may be a killer, but I still have some  
  
sense of honor when it comes to women."  
  
"Yeah, boss, I know." The man silently took his seat and the meeting began.  
  
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"Captain!"  
  
Harry was startled out of his thoughts as a young female officer rushed into the office, phones ringing in the background.  
  
"What? What is it?"  
  
"We've just had a phone call. We tried to get you, but they hung up too fast."  
  
"They, who're 'they'?" Harry was becoming impatient.  
  
"A man, but he referred to himself as 'we'. He said they have Sergeants Ryan and St. John. We have until tomorrow at two to deliver 5 million dollars to a post office box, or they die. That's all he said, and then  
  
he just hung up. We didn't get enough time to even order a trace."  
  
"Well, someone better start figuring something out! No one is going to authorize five million dollars to a bunch of killers." 'Thank Gods, at least they're still alive,' Harry thought even as he yelled.  
  
"How are things going with the sketch and identifying the shooters?"  
  
"We have the sketch just about done, and we haven't had any luck with the IDs."  
  
"Then may I suggest we start working harder? We have a deadline know, in 14 hours, unless we find them, they're dead."  
  
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Cassy had been sitting silently counting the minutes when Tom again began to stir. Once again Cassy was at his side in a flash.  
  
"Tom?" she asked softly. "Tom, can you hear me?"  
  
His head lifted weakly for a second before it dropped to the side. "Cassy?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm still here. Don't move too much, just take it easy."  
  
"Anything happen?" Tom asked in a voice that was barely there.  
  
"No, nothing yet. Its just about midnight. Are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah, geez, it seems that's the only thing we can say to each other, huh?" He meant it to be a joke, but suddenly it didn't seem very funny. 


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: See part 1  
  
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Terror in the Night Part 6  
  
Hour 13  
  
Things were not going well for Harry, he was still no closer to getting any real leads on these guys as he had been an hour ago, and that meant that he now had one hour less in which to find Tom and Cassy. He felt useless as he wandered around the station, growling at everyone who didn't have an answer, which was just about everyone. People were avoiding him, he silently admitted to himself as he watched two  
  
officers who had been in his path suddenly alter their course away from him. Things seemed to be at a stand still, nobody had anything yet, and time was running out.  
  
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Tom and Cassy had been sitting silently for almost an hour, neither one being able to find any words in which to give each other hope. The bare room was getting colder, and they both sat now shivering in their self- imposed silence.  
  
Tom's thoughts were centered on his life, situations like this make you think about what exactly you've done with yourself and your life, and how many of those dreams you used to have for yourself you've actually accomplished and how many you realized would always be just dreams. Its funny how most people have to be faced with a life or death situation in order to see and truly enjoy life.  
  
Cassy's thoughts were along the same line. There was a very good chance that they wouldn't get out of here alive, that these next few hours, days, maybe even seconds might be the only time they would ever have a chance to talk, laugh, see each other, or let the other person know just how much of an impact they've had on your life. So much to say, but how to find the words? They both wasted precious seconds as they tried to answer that question, finally they both decided to just let it play out.  
  
"Cassy--," Tom started at the same time Cassy began,  
  
"Tom--." A nervous chuckle broke the awkward silence that followed, indicating just how much tension both of them felt.  
  
"Go first," Tom offered.  
  
"Okay.," Cassy paused all the things she had planned on saying suddenly left her. 'Might as well just get to the point, St. John,' she told herself, 'you've never been one to be a coward before, don't start now,  
  
when it might be the last chance you ever get to tell him how you feel.' Feeling more certain than she had a moment before, she started again.  
  
"Tom, do you ever regret us getting married?" Of all of the things Tom had been expecting, this was certainly not it. He had expected her to avoid that, say anything about anything but their marriage. It wasn't something she usually talked about. 'Did I regret it?' he said to himself, 'How could I regret that? Does that mean she does?' Unsure of himself, and of where this conversation was going, he decided to answer honestly, but simply, just until he figured out where she too stood on the subject.  
  
"No, Cassy. I have never regretted our marriage," he said looking her in the eye, "Did you?"  
  
Cassy looked taken aback, as if she couldn't imagine how he would ever think that.  
  
"No, of course not, it was something we both wanted, it just seemed as thought it wasn't meant to be."  
  
Tom breathed a silent sigh of relief. He had hoped that she would say something like that, that she could never regret choosing marriage, choosing him.  
  
Cassy took a deep breath and asked the next question on her mental list, hoping and praying that he would be able to answer her honestly, so she could know just how he felt about things, about her, their marriage, everything.  
  
"Do you think it was a mistake?" she asked him, her hope of hearing what she wanted to hear dying as she saw the look on his face, her breath catching as he opened his mouth to answer. 


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: See part 1  
  
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Terror in the Night Part 7  
  
Hour 12 1/2  
  
"No," Tom said simply, "I don't think it was a mistake. I honestly think we were going to move in that direction no matter what, and the fact that we did it and we can still talk to each other really says  
  
something. Sure, we had our problems, we still do, but I think it was something that we had to do, just to see if it could be done." He paused to watch the expression of Cassy's face. "And you, do you think it was a mistake?"  
  
"No," she said softly, "I agree with what you said." Tom smiled as much in relief as in Cassy admitting to the fact that he was actually right about something.  
  
"That's a first," he couldn't resist adding. Cassy smiled at him, thankful for the fact that he could get her to smile in a situation like this, instead of taking advantage of her vulnerability,  
  
thankful for that special thing inside him that made him 'Tom', the man she loved.  
  
Cassy looked satisfied with the way things had went, so Tom took that as his cue to start asking his own questions.  
  
"Cassy," he said, pausing until her eyes met his, "do you still love me?"  
  
"Of course I do," she said without hesitation, "you're my best friend."  
  
"No, not like that.do you love me like you loved me when we were married, as more than friends?" He hoped that the desire in his voice was hidden better than it seemed.  
  
Cassy paused, silent. She didn't answer him quickly, but when she did, her eyes told him that what she was about to say would probably be one of the most important things in his life.  
  
She took her time finding the right words, trying to find any words at all that could possibly convey how she felt about him.  
  
"Tom, I think that I'll always love you," she hesitated, "as more than friends, the love I have for you, had for you then, was real, and love like that, the kind that comes from the heart, will never fade, not if it was truly love." She looked up at him again, the truth shining in her eyes.  
  
Tom forgot to breathe for a minute at the stark emotions he could see in her face, even when they were married, he didn't think she had ever been this completely open and honest with him. Not like this. Tom swallowed once before answering the questions her eyes were asking.  
  
"I love you too, like it was before, I don't think I ever stopped, not even for a second. You were my first true love, and you always will be."  
  
Cassy's eyes filled with tears at the raw emotions in his voice, the love she could hear, but also the pain. She understood that pain, she felt it too, the pain of losing the intimacy they used to have, the kind only husband and wife could have, the pain of losing the  
  
hope of it ever really working. It would always be there, their love for one another, but neither of them were ready to actually put it on the line again.  
  
They were both silent again, trying to sort it out again, now that they had all these new or at least newly voiced facts to add to their internal debate. They were so caught up in their longings and thoughts that they didn't even notice another hour tick by.  
  
Hour 11 1/2  
  
If Harry had thought he was worried an hour ago, he was sadly mistaken. His anxiety level now had already helped him through a bottle of TUMS, and wasn't getting any better. It was scary, his attitude. He was  
  
so caught up in his worry that he had become calm, gentle, and even quiet. If everyone had avoided him earlier, none would even venture near his office now without having some good news of some sort, and since they hadn't come across any in their investigation, Harry had been alone for almost 45 minutes. Everyone was used to his yelling, ranting and raving, it was familiar to them, almost comforting in its  
  
familiarity, but this...this passiveness, it had everyone scared out of their wits, they didn't know how to handle it, didn't know what to do. Emma had finished talking with the sketch artist and his picture was being flashed around the neighborhood she said she had seen them, but so far, no one had recognized him. The photo IDs she had been working on for almost two hours straight weren't going any better, and tension was running high as frustration and fear combined, getting worse and worse with the ominous consistent ticking of the clock.  
  
  
  
Hour 11  
  
Tom and Cassy had been sitting in silence for a good 20 minutes now, no longer dwelling on their relationship at the moment, but instead getting more and more impatient because nothing was happening.  
  
Don't get them wrong, its not like they were looking forward to something happening, but they were, if nothing was happening they couldn't do anything to fight it, and if they couldn't fight it, they didn't feel like they had any hope of getting out of here. They needed to have something to fight against, to take out their anger on, it was much easier to cling to anger, and therefore hope when you had someone real to attack.  
  
This silence was making them more edgy than having a gun pointed to their heads, at least then they knew what they were up against, at the moment they knew nothing. So when the door to their room flew open, both of them were ready to take them on, who ever happened to be on the other side of the door, with everything they had.  
  
It would be an understatement to say that they were surprised when  
  
they saw who was standing there. They both recognized him instantly, but neither of them could figure out what one of the largest heads of the mob was doing standing here, with a bunch of common robbers just  
  
steps behind. Even more surprising was the fact that as far as they knew, the man blocking the light from the hall was supposed to be dead, but then again ghosts don't cast shadows, so somewhere along the  
  
line, someone had lied. They felt their hope wither a bit, unless someone tracked down the robbers, no one was going to find them, after all, who would be looking for a dead man? 


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: See part 1  
  
  
  
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Terror in the Night Part 8  
  
Still Hour 11  
  
When the two prisoners didn't say anything, the man in the doorway turned around and with a gesture of his hand dismissed the three men who had been standing behind him. Cassy was secretly relieved to see that the dark haired man that had caused them trouble before was not part of the group. Once all the other men were out of sight, the man still standing pulled a chair from the hallway and placed it near the door which he let shut behind him. He sat facing the two detectives, silent at first as if waiting for some sort of reaction from them. Finally Tom couldn't help but say something to break the silence. "What are we doing here, DeSavage?" "Oh," the man said, smiling, "so you do know who I am. I was afraid for a minute that Harry had sent me some sort of slow-witted bait. I'm very glad you aren't, it'll make things much easier." "What things? What exactly do you need us for?" Cassy was silent watching the exchange, taking in every detail of the man sitting across from him, the black suit, neatly combed gray hair, piercing black eyes and strong chin. Everything about him screamed wealth. "Well you see, detectives, I need some information, something only you can tell me." "And what makes you think we would do anything to help you?" Cassy finally spoke up. "Trust me dear, you will. I have ways of getting what I want, ways you've only imagined in your worst dreams." He paused, rising from his chair to study her. "I'm sorry if my men have caused you any pain, I don't like to see women hurt, but I can tell you, if you don't give me what you want, I won't have any qualms about treating you just I treat your partner, after all, when you take on a man's job, you have to be prepared to take the consequences like a man." He stopped again, to let his threat fully sink in, and walked to the door. "Now, I'm going to let you eat a little something before we start, no rush. I'll send someone in with food, and to get you back to the way you were dear," he said eyeing Cassy's hands in front of her. "I'll be back soon, you better take this time to get your strength together and decide that its easiest just to tell me what I want, if not, you'll need every bit of energy you can muster." With that he exited the room, locking the deadbolt in place.  
  
Harry was now pacing around the station, looking over everyone's shoulders to check their process. Emma still had found nothing. He had called Morton to see if the latest body, whose autopsy was just getting finished had revealed anything new, and was elated to hear that it had. They had put the latest body under a laser to see if they could get any substances to show up that couldn't be seen in the regular light, and their efforts had paid off. They had a partial print off one of the victims shoulder. He assumed that when they were checking them for money one of the robbers gloves had ripped, ripped just enough to leave behind a starting block to figuring out his identity. The material that had left the print had had a particular glow to it when they had put it under the electron scanning microscope, the same color that the residue from the inside of medical gloves leave behind. Of course, it could be other things, but if it was from a medical glove than that would explain why it had torn so easily. With this new information, Harry became a frenzy of activity, assigning officers the duty of calling all the medical, dental, and veterinary offices, and any other place that would use those types of gloves to see if they had had any employees disappear on them lately, or if they might know anything about the recent murders. Meanwhile Morton had said he would run the partial through the computers to see if any matches turned up, but seeing as how it was only a partial, it might take longer than it normally would, and that any matches it spit out might not be who they were looking for. Spirits rose slightly at this new lead, and everyone immersed themselves in work with new ferver.  
  
Hour 10  
  
Tom and Cassy had been alone for awhile, despite Emilio DeSavage's promise that they would get something to eat. Their conversation had proved fruitless, and they had come to the same conclusions that they had before. They couldn't figure out what information was wanted of them, they didn't know what a mob boss was doing behind these murders, and they were frustrated that they couldn't figure it out. None of the victims had had any connections to the mob on the surface, but no one had dug too deep on that level, who would expect the mob behind tourist robbings, amateur ones at that. Cassy had finally become impatient and kicked the chair that DeSavage had left there over, angry at herself for not being able to put the pieces of this puzzle together, and angry at their captors for putting them in this situation. Tom was almost unconsciously working at his bindings as he put his mind to work trying to see the connection that he hoped would help them finally get what was going on. Cassy, looking up at him finally noticed his arms moving slightly. "What are you doing?" she asked stupidly, so caught up in her other thoughts that the answer didn't register on her senses. "Trying to get these stupid ropes off, that's what," he snapped. "Let me try," Cassy said, "though I don't know what good it'll do, they have us locked in here, we don't have any sort of weapon to use against them, and we are outnumbered." "Well, I know this, okay?" he shot back, his frustration making him snappy, "But its doing me soon good trying, so if you don't like it leave me alone." By this time, the now determined Cassy had made her way around the chair and was trying to work the tight knots out, but it became obvious pretty quickly that who ever had tied them knew what they were doing, because despite her furious attempts the cords didn't budge. Switching roles on a whim, Tom just as quickly found out that Cassy's were just as impossible. Sitting back down on the mattress, they both waited for someone to remember they were there. Their nerves were almost shot, they had neither never been any good at waiting, and ever since they were captured its seems that's all they could do.  
  
A few minutes later the door to their room opened revealing a thick man with two trays, their food as promised. The man shut the door behind them, and paused for a moment surveying their bound hands; he had strict orders not to untie them, but he didn't see how else they would eat. He decided with a sigh that he would have to do it for them, and silently cursed the boss at giving him feeding duty. As humiliating as it was for Tom and Cassy, it was almost as bad for the man feeding them who felt very stupid on his knees spooning food into a grown man and woman's mouths. Tom and Cassy pushed aside their pride and allowed him to do his job though, taking DeSavage's advice to save all the strength they could, and the food would help. Two bowls of soup, two pieces of bread, two slices of cheese, and two glasses of water later the man heaved himself to his feet and left the room as silently as he had come. Not two minutes later, the door opened again, this time with the man who had fed them and another man, one they had not seen before. The one who had fed them walked over to where Cassy was sitting and jerked her arm until she was standing next to him. He cut through the ropes that held her hands together and retied them again behind her back, tighter this time than before to insure that she didn't get them back in front of her where they might be useful. He then placed a blindfold over her eyes, robbing her of sight. She heard the sounds of the other man cutting the rope from Tom's wrists and freeing him from his chair. Tom's wrists were also tied again behind his back and a blindfold was placed around his head. They were led from the room and after a little while turned right, they stopped there, and suddenly spun around until they lost all sense of forward, back, left, and right, they assumed to prevent them from being able to ascertain their direction. They were led a little forward, and turned a few more times, but neither could be sure they hadn't gone back the way they had come. When their dizzying trip finally ended, they were both shoved down onto hard wood chairs, their bound hands lifted, then dropped over the back of the chair to keep them there. The blindfolds were taken off and they both studied their new surroundings. They were now in a room much like the one they had been in before, but much bigger in size, dirty white walls all around them, unadorned by anything except the dust, stains and mildew that had been added through years of use, abuse, and disuse. The chairs were both set at opposite ends of the room with Tom and Cassy facing each other, their backs, or at least the backs of the chairs positioned against the wall. As soon as the blindfolds had been removed their two escorts had exited back out the door, locking it behind them, leaving them alone once again.  
  
Harry was just about to check on Emma's progress in going over the IDs, when a shout rerouted his path to the other side of the room. "Bingo!" one of the officers who had been assigned secretarial duty yelled over the hum of conversation. Harry stopped next to his desk, "What? Whaddya got?" "I got a hit on a missing employee, boss says he hasn't shown up for work in two weeks, worked over at the Free Clinic as a nurse's assistant. I ran his name through our databanks," he paused, "his name didn't come up, but his brother's did. He just got out of jail paroled on his five-year sentence for armed robbery and B&E, did three years and got out on good behavior. His parole officer hasn't heard from him in over a month." "Great, get me any other information you can, where he was arrested, what kind of victims did he have, if anyone knows if he's made contact with his brother, who was buddied up with in prison, and if anyone he used to work with has also been released or seen around here." The man nodded and got back to work. 


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of the show or the show itself. This is just for fun.  
  
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Terror in the Night Part 9  
  
Hour 9  
  
"Are they ready?" "Yeah, they're ready." "Great, get Tony, Jack, and Dan. Tell them to meet me in the white room, and that they're ready." "Yes, sir." 'This is going to be fun.'  
  
"What kind of information do you think they want?" Tom asked. "I'm not sure, but I kinda hope we know when they ask, otherwise I have a feeling this is going to be a very bad time for us," Cassy responded. "If you know and it's something that would be very bad for them to know, would you tell?" "I don't know, I don't like to think I'd tell them anything, but if they hurt you and I know, and it's not something that I absolutely cannot tell, then yes. I don't think I could stand them hurting you, Cass." "Thanks, but as noble as that is, promise me, if you know and its not something trivial, though I don't think it is if they went through all this trouble, you won't tell. I can handle it Tom. If you say anything just to get me out of something, I'll kill you myself. Don't make me into a helpless female, that would insult me more than anything they could possibly do." "And you'd do the same for me?" The look on her face said it all, she wasn't going to tell them anything, even if she did know. Short of him getting killed, she wasn't going to let them get what they wanted out of her. "Promise," she said again. "I promise, but if they try to kill you and I know what could save your life, I'm not going to let you die." Cassy knew she wasn't going to get anything else out of him. Satisfied as much as she was ever going to be, she relaxed a little in her chair glad they both knew where they stood. "So, what do you think the robberies had to do with all this?" "I don't know, maybe they knew that sooner or later if we didn't arrest anyone, the department would have to send someone to investigate closer. I don't think it's anything personal with us, I've never met the guy before, and the only time I ever even seen him was on TV when he went to prison." Cassy nodded noncommittally. "Do you think Harry and everyone else are close to finding us?" "I hope so, but we were the ones on the case in the first place, and look how far we got. I hope one of them sees something that we didn't that will help catch these guys." "They haven't said anything about ransom." "Yeah, I guess we were wrong," Cassy paused slightly, "Tom, they don't know that DeSavage is behind this, who's to say that even if they do identify the robbers they still wouldn't find us?" Tom was silent, his thoughts had been running in the same direction.  
  
The missing nurse's assistant lead was starting to pay off, they had gotten Emma to ID the guy, Dan Meyers was his name, his brother the missing assistant, Johnny Meyers. They found out that two of Dan's old partners were also paroled and had recently gone missing. Jack Kopec had been locked up for two accounts of rape and by some computer error on the search warrant that put him in jail for a year, the evidence that had convicted him was later thrown out, leaving him a free man. Byran Miller had served a year for a bungled attempted robbery. They were still trying to track down any of the three men's previous cell mates, but they had been moved around a lot, and so far all they had gotten was a bunch of dead ends and excuses about computer failure, short staffs, and backed-up paper work.  
  
  
  
Emilio DeSavage walked into the room also occupying his two prisoners. "So," he said looking at both of them, "Sergeant Cassandra St. John and Sergeant Tom Ryan, I really enjoyed reading about both of you. After I got your names from your badges, I figured I better look you up and see just who I had gotten the pleasure of dealing with. Harry Lipshitz's best. I hope that you two can continue showing as much intelligence as it's obvious you have in the past and make this go as quickly as possible." He got no response to his speech, not that he was expecting any. He hadn't told them the entire truth, when he had checked them out he had been making sure that he had someone who could actually help him. Well, he had found what he was looking for. One of them knew the answer to what he wanted to know, he only hoped they had the good sense to tell him..quickly.  
  
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DeSavage walked further into the room and stopped, waiting for three men to appear behind him. One of them was the same man who had threatened Cassy earlier, the dark haired man whom Tom had spit on. He glared at them with a murderous look. Emilio took a step forward, placing himself in front of the men. "Tom, Cassy, I'd like you to meet some of my employees. These men," he said sweeping his hand in the direction of the people behind him, "are going to help jog your memories if you happen to forget the information I'm looking for. I believe you've already met Jack," the dark haired man stepped forward slightly, "I apologize for his behavior. The other two you haven't seen before, this is Dan Meyers," a thin man with blonde hair took a small step forward, placing him next to the one called Jack, "and this is Tony Dimangi." The last man, a powerful looking man with a crew cut, stepped next to the others, crossing his arms, making the muscles bulge under the sleeves of his shirt. Tom and Cassy were starting to get a little nervous. Why would he introduce them with their last names? That would make it all that much easier to arrest them later on, unless.they planned to kill them anyway, after they told him what he wanted to know. They looked at each other with worry in their eyes as the heavy doors slammed shut, confining them all in the little room.  
  
Hour 8  
  
Finally! Harry was so happy that they had finally gotten the list of cell mates that he could have kissed the officer who had just spent the last ten minutes on the phone, yelling, until they had gotten what they wanted. It was already 6:37 in the morning, and everyone was starting to become more active, instead of letting their lack of sleep cloud their thoughts. They had less than eight hours to figure this out. The killers hadn't made any more contact with them. They quickly went through the list checking out every name, crossing out the ones who were still in jail, or had met unexpected demises. They had a list of five possible cell mates, those who had been paroled. They spent the next hour tracking down the whereabouts of each of them, until they had two possibilities, Hayden Thomas and Tony Demangi."  
  
Hour 7  
  
Things were not going well for Tom and Cassy, and even though things had been taken easy at first. DeSavage was getting mad, and they could tell. He was yelling now, "Tell me, where is my brother!?" Tom moved his jaw tenderly, small bruises already appearing across his face. "We already told you, we don't know where he is." "You're lying! I know you know, now tell me!" His outburst was punctuated by a hard slap across his face. Emilio turned to Cassy whose cheek and eye were slightly purple. He looked at her with hard eyes. "All I want to know," he said softly, "is where my brother is, is that so much to ask?" Cassy's brain was scrambling, trying to put together everything she could remember about his brother. He worked for the government, he had helped put his brother in jail, and he was so important doing whatever it was he did, that most of the time, his whole existence was denied. If Emilio ever found out where his brother was there was no doubt in her mind that he would kill him. If Robert DeSavage ever died there would be hell to pay, from every side. Emilio slowly turned towards the three men, who had put in a helping hand every so often. He nodded them towards him and a second later, the three men left the room. Emilio turned back to the two detectives, "We're going to take a break for a minute, take this time to think-hard. Maybe your memories will be better by the time I come back. I hope for your sake they are, we started out nice, I don't believe in unprovoked excessive violence, but I'm warning you now. From now on, I'm serious. No more playing around." With that he turned on his heels and stalked out of the room slamming and locking the door behind him. 


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: See part 1  
  
  
  
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Terror in the Night Part 10  
  
Hour 6 1/2  
  
Tom tenderly moved his jaw again, and shot a look at Cassy. Her gaze was unfocused, staring at nothing in particular. "Cassy, you all right?" he asked, getting slightly concerned. He didn't think they had hit her too hard to do any damage, in fact, he agreed with DeSavage, they had gotten it easy so far compared to what he knew they were capable of. His voice pierced through her frantic thoughts, and her eyes focused on him. "Yeah, I'm fine. Are you?" Her voice had that tone, the one that said 'don't ask me any questions right now'. Tom wondered what was going through that intelligent head of hers. "Fine, jaw doesn't hurt very much from before, and besides the stress, my headache is about gone," he trailed off, looking at her closely when he realized that once again, she wasn't listening to anything he was saying, "and of course I can see where that trip to the moon helped us out, man those little gray people sure do know how to fix your pains." Cassy just nodded and suddenly turned to look at him again, "Little gray men?" Tom smiled, "So, you were listening." "Sorta, I'm sorry, just thinking." She tried to smile reassuringly at him, but didn't quite make it. "Anything I can help with?" he asked lightly, hoping that she would confide whatever she was thinking about. "No, sorry." She shook her head again, and blinked, bringing herself back to reality. "So, do you know anything about this guy's brother?" "Well, a little," he hedged, "I mean I know what the rest of the world knows, that he helped put DeSavage in prison, DeSavage swore revenge, and the last rumor I heard was he's working as a spook now. The only thing I can say to add to that is, if DeSavage gets what he's looking for, he'll probably take out as many innocent people as he can at the same time. That's the way he is." Cassy nodded her head in agreement. "That's about all I know too. So, what are we going to tell him," she said jerking her head to the door. "The truth I guess, we don't know anything to help him out." 'The truth,' Cassy thought to herself, unaware that the same thought was being voiced in Tom's head too.  
  
Hour 6  
  
Harry's blossoming hope was starting to wither. They only had six hours left, and from what they could tell about who had them, he hadn't a moment's pause about whether or not they would follow through with their threat. They were still getting the run around from everyone they talked to, each person trying to cover up his ignorance. The office was now packed, everyone else had come in for their regular shifts who hadn't been able to make it there last night. He had sent not quite half of them about their regular duties. He was confident they were on the right trail, and neglecting everything else wasn't going to get them anywhere. It didn't seem like much of anything was getting them anywhere. Threats, bribes, professional superiority, and what bordered on pleading, wasn't getting them information any quicker.  
  
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DeSavage was quickly losing patience. He had just finished checking his contacts, finding out just how close the cops were to finding out what was going on. The reassurance that so far, no one had figured out the truth did little to kill the feeling in his stomach. He always relied on his intuition and something was telling him that things were not going to go the way he planned them. Damn it! If only that stupid detective would tell him what he wanted to know. He didn't want to kill them if they were going to give him something, and he wasn't sure that they wouldn't. He didn't expect any money to be paid for his ransom demand, but he had given his word that they wouldn't die until 2 pm, and if there was one thing that DeSavage believed in above family, was you should be able to believe in a man's word, even if he was a murdering bastard. He ran down a checklist in his mind, everything seemed to be going according to his plan. No one was figuring out he was behind anything, he had made sure that the robbery/homicides had been completely random for that purpose. He just wished that he could figure out what he was missing.  
  
  
  
Hour 5 1/2  
  
DeSavage was making his way back to the room that held Tom and Cassy, this time by himself. This was personal now, they had lied to him. He wanted to take care of them himself.  
  
Finally pay dirt! At last someone who listened to the voice of reason, or at least Harry's voice, but either way the result was one of good news. They now had a list of suspects: Johnny Meyers, and his brother Dan; Jack Kopec; Bryan Miller; and at last Dan's old cell-mate, Tony Demangi. Good old fashioned police work had for once paid off. Officers had been sent around the neighborhood where the killings took place and so far someone had identified Bryan Miller, and Tony Demangi as having been seen hanging around that alley. Emma had identified Demangi as the man who she had seen hanging around her building, and had jumped right in answering phones and making calls along with the rest of them. "What?" Harry barked at the young man who had just tapped him on the shoulder. "Sir," he started hesitantly, "I worked on the case that put Demangi away and I thought you should know that he was one of the best mob connections we had. It was rumored that he was the right hand man of Emilio DeSavage. If he's involved in this, maybe DeSavage is too." "Isn't DeSavage dead?" The young man stuttered under Harry's hard look, missing the fact that is Harry had honestly thought there was nothing to his point he wouldn't have asked any questions. "He's supposed to be dead, a body off the coast of Cuba was tentatively identified as his, but I for one, have never believed it was him." "And may I ask why you think it wasn't real?" "Well, sir, he was supposed to have died in a boating accident, and DeSavage was the most accomplished captain I've seen. I don't think that he would have made such a stupid mistake as driving his boat into a reef, as it is said to have happened." "So, you think he's staged his death? And that he's involved in this? May I ask what possessed you to make this connection?"  
  
"Nothing really, just a feeling. I honestly think that if Demangi is behind these robberies, there's a good chance DeSavage is too." "Why would a giant mob boss like Emilio DeSavage be behind petty tourist robberies?" "I don't know sir, but it seems to me that Sergeants Ryan and St. John were kidnapped pretty easily for it to have been a spur of the moment thing, especially when the killers didn't have any reason to know who they really were." "So, you're saying you think this was planned? Why would they want a couple of police detectives?" his voice trailed off as a thought came to him. "Sir," the young man asked, "are you all right?" Harry didn't answer, if what he thought was true, then they were in trouble. His thoughts went to the face of one of his favorite detectives, back to when they were both younger, and the young officer had just been transferred here after helping put Emilio DeSavage behind bars. 'I hope I'm wrong,' he thought frantically, 'if that's what he's after, they know how important it is. They aren't going to tell. I can't image what's going to happen because of that, but I know they aren't going to tell.'  
  
  
  
Back in DeSavage's Prison  
  
Cassy bit back the scream that threatened to escape past her lips. DeSavage's face was next to her's blocking her view of Tom. She had heard him yell right before the pain had shot through her hand. DeSavage's hand moved to her next finger, holding it up next to the broken one in a silent warning. Tom was at a loss, he couldn't do anything to stop him. He had told him everything he knew after he threatened the first time. How he had once met the other DeSavage on a case, but despite his confession about where he was then, Emilio seemed to want more. "Please, stop!" Tom started begging, "I've told you everything I know, don't hurt her anymore!" DeSavage didn't turn or pause, instead the sickening crack could be heard as another finger was broken. The pain was almost too much, and Cassy was starting to get light headed. Her stomach was queasy from the fists with which had recently made contact, and her face was stiff and swollen. Tom wasn't much better off. Cassy still didn't make a sound, refusing to give him the information he wanted, knowing it would cause more death than she wanted on her hands. DeSavage had shared his fantasies about how his dear brother should meet his demise, and none had involved just his death, instead his dreams had included the death of everyone around him, anyone who had known him. His only motive for killing all those innocent people was spite, and hate. Hate directed at everyone who had had any contact with his brother recently, while he had not had any luck in locating him himself. He finally moved away from Cassy, secretly impressed with how long she had held on, but just as much angry for the fact that she hadn't told him what he wanted to hear. Cassy tried to move past the pain, more was at stake here than a brother's revenge, or at least it would be if he ever found out where his brother was. She met Tom's eyes across the room, and tried to tell him how sorry she was for allowing him to be hurt. She couldn't allow DeSavage to find out where his brother was. Tom saw her pale face, twisted in pain. He met her eyes, and could have sworn he saw an apologetic look. He hoped she wasn't blaming herself for what was happening, she couldn't help it if she didn't know anything. He looked at her again, and the look in her eyes hadn't changed. There was something else there too, something that made him wonder if she really did know more than she was letting on. 'No, she wouldn't let it go this far if all he wants to know is where his brother is,' he thought to himself. That left two possibilities for him to consider, either she truthfully didn't know anything, or more was at stake here than it seemed. His bet was on the latter. 'Well, if it's that important that she's willing to sacrifice herself to keep it a secret, I can handle it too.' He trusted her judgment when it came to their lives, if he didn't they wouldn't be very good partners, and everyone knew that that was far from true.  
  
Hour 5  
  
Harry had called up everything he could on Emilio DeSavage and had put his picture amongst the others in circulation. Almost immediately they had an ID, one of the local vendors had seen DeSavage with none other than Tony Demangi. There was no doubt in Harry's mind now that DeSavage was behind the robberies, killings, and the kidnapping. They were halfway there, now they had five hours to find out where they were. Every case on DeSavage was pulled out and those they didn't have with them were called up on the computers, he had ten people scanning through them compiling a list of places where anything involving him had gone down. DeSavage was one of those traditional guys, who liked to go back to the scene of the crime. The bad thing was, with DeSavage, there were a lot of scenes.  
  
By this time Cassy was only being held in an upright position by the rope around her wrists. She watched helplessly, still fighting the ever present argument in her head, as DeSavage landed yet another punch to Tom's prone body. He didn't move when DeSavage stepped away, finally letting himself fall into the black cosmic joke of unconsciousness. Surveying his bruised and bloodied prisoners, DeSavage made his way to the door. His feeling of unease had been growing and he wanted to check for himself that everything thing was still going smoothly. Besides he thought with a parting glance, if he didn't slow himself down, his prisoners wouldn't be alive to tell him anything. 


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: See previous chapters  
  
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Terror in the Night Part 11  
  
Hour 4 1/2  
  
Cassy's head was starting to clear, and she moved it slowly around the room. Tom still hadn't moved. "Tom? Tom, can you hear me?" He didn't answer and she was worried. She held herself absolutely still and watched him closely until she was sure that the movement from his breathing was real and not just a figment of her imagination. 'Damn,' she thought, 'I don't know if I would hate myself more if hundreds of innocent people died, or if Tom became hurt worse than he already is. She knew if they tried to kill him she wouldn't be able to just let him die. It might be the biggest mistake of her life, but she knew she would have no life if it meant knowing Tom was never going to be there, and that she was responsible for his death. Robert DeSavage was currently across seas trying to bring peace between two small countries in Russia, if he was killed, and worse yet if those around him were killed, the two countries would go to war. It was inevitable without him. Cassy didn't even want to think of what would happen if it was ever discovered that an American had killed him and probably some ambassadors from their own countries as well. She had already committed herself to keeping quiet no matter what they did to her, but could she stand knowing that keeping her mouth shut would also cause Tom harm, when she could stop all his suffering by telling them what they wanted to know? She realized that they had been left alone for almost 15 minutes, and hoped that they would be gone for at least 15 more, she had to get her strength back. She cast another worried look at Tom's oblivious face and tried to justify her actions again by telling herself that she was saving innocent lives, women, children, when on the other hand she would be bringing them death. Their captors were probably going to kill them anyway, there was little doubt left in her mind, after all, they had seen the faces, hell, they even knew their names. DeSavage wasn't stupid enough to actually let them live knowing what they did. Was he? She tried to block that light of hope, it wasn't doing them any good to dream, at the moment dealing with the reality of the situation would be the only thing that would bring them any good.  
  
Hour 4  
  
They were not moving through the list of possible places as fast as Harry would have liked, but he also didn't want to make a stupid mistake that could cost Tom and Cassy their lives because they failed to check each place properly. At the moment they were making phone calls because he didn't have the manpower it would take to check each place physically. The first thing they did was cross off all the places that were out of Palm Beach and that were more than four years old. Most serial killers like DeSavage, who had a thing to revisit crime scenes had a habit of zoning things, of keeping to the scenes he or his victims were closest to at the time and keeping to the most recent, or one in the area that had the greatest significance to him. So by keeping only the most recent and local scenes they cut their list down greatly. So far they had also crossed off five other buildings that had recently been demolished and torn-down. They had about thirty other places in which both DeSavage and death had been involved. Less than four hours to go. Harry refused to think about what was happening to his best detectives. He had a pretty good idea of why DeSavage would want them, and he hoped that if it came down to a life or death situation, the right decision would be made concerning whether or not they continued to keep their mouths shut. But what exactly was the right choice?  
  
Hour 3 1/2  
  
Footsteps startled Cassy out of her doze. She couldn't believe she had actually fallen asleep, or sort of fallen asleep. She hadn't realized just how exhausted her body was. A quick glance at Tom told her he had still not awaken, and she was glad. This time when they came in to 'talk' they would have no choice but to leave Tom alone, after all, an unconscious man wouldn't tell you anything. She pulled herself together and straightened in the chair as the door was pushed open and DeSavage reentered. His short break hadn't given him any idea of what was bothering him. Everything seemed like it was going according to plan, but he was experienced enough to know that just when everything seems perfect and well it pays to be more attentive to the smallest details. A silent appraisal of the room showed him the man who was still out slumped in his chair, and the woman sitting perfectly upright in the chair, in spite of her wounds, looking at him with something akin to defiance. "Sergeant St. John, are we ready to talk?" he asked, walking towards her until he was in front of her chair. A rise of her chin and a narrowing of her eyes is the only response he got to his question. "Still letting that pride hold your tongue, detective? Why will you not tell me something as simple as where my brother is? Keeping your mouth shut will do no one any good, you and your partner will end up dead, and I'll just try again. I won't stop until I find out where he is, don't you think it would be the easiest thing to just tell me?" His eyes had taken on a hard glint belying the softness of his voice. Cassy gave him her best bored look and slowly blinked her eyes, not showing the fear that was coursing through her blood. The slap that followed echoed through the otherwise silent room. She made no sound, she would not let him illicit any response from her. 'Damn it why is it men always hit women on the face?' she wondered, trying not to wince. The next half hour similarly followed suit. Cassy refused to give an inch, and DeSavage proved just as stubborn, not letting up with his fists when she refused to answer. The only consolation Cassy could find, the one other thing that helped her stay quiet was the fact that during the whole time, Tom had been spared any other punishment.  
  
Hour 3  
  
They were down to ten places and they only had three hours left. They only had ten people working on this disaster with them anymore. As much as Harry would have liked to have everyone help, he could understand that just because two of the most important people in his life were being held hostage, that didn't excuse taking away the police protection from someone else's daughter or son or loved one. Minutes seemed like seconds and traffic seemed to put every possible obstacle in their path, doubling the time it would have usually taken to hit the buildings. Sweeps were made as quickly as possible, but with a reasonable amount of caution, after all, if that next building happened to be the right spot, the bad guys were not going to just walk out with their hands in the air, going, "Oh, you got me." DeSavage wasn't the type to let anything go as easy as it should, and had no moral qualms about taking lives to protect his own sorry, worthless ass. About ten minutes later the phone rang. "We just hit the old Holiday Inn on Water St. Nothing there, were heading out to the next one," the officer on the other line spoke quickly and wasted no time before hastily disconnecting the line. Harry swallowed the harsh words that sprang to his tongue, knowing that yelling at the young man wasn't going to help. But, dammit, it made him feel better. His worry needed an outlet and at the moment angry words were the most convenient. They were scheduled to make three more stops, then head back to HQ to switch teams. Some of the men riding with them had been here since last night because it was their day off. After wandering helplessly through the desks scattered across the floor, Harry couldn't stand it any more. As soon as they were back, he was going with them, he could put someone else in charge for the time being, but he couldn't stand not being out there and trying to help find them. He just wished they would hurry up and get back or hurry up and find them.  
  
Hour 2 1/2  
  
"One more place, Captain, then we're heading back to switch." "Fine, I'll be waiting."  
  
Hour 2  
  
Tom fought the wave of nausea that roiled through his stomach. His head was exploding, he could feel it crack piece by piece, the pain almost more than he could bear. He kept fighting through the cloying darkness that seemed to feel that he should stay forever in its grasp. He had to wake up, he had to be there to help, be there for Cassy. Slowly, and ever so slightly he lifted his heavy head. Holding his breath he didn't pause until he could see around the room. DeSavage had come back. The last thing he remembered hearing was the door shut after heavy footsteps that could only belong to that monster left the room. He was now standing with his back to Tom, in front of Cassy's chair. None of the other goons had come back with him. He wondered how long he had been out, and how long Cassy had been in the grips of this madman with no one else to act as a sounding board to his aggressions. DeSavage moved to the side, allowing Tom to see the new bruises forming across her face, and no doubt, other places that he couldn't see. She had finally succumbed to all the stress, physical, mental, emotional, and was now oblivious to the world around her. DeSavage looked at her again, then began to turn around. Quickly, too quickly according to the pain washing over him again, he bowed his head like it had been before. Let him think they were both out, it might give them some time. He could feel DeSavage getting closer to him and willed himself not to give anything away when the standing man slapped his cheek. "Are you awake, detective? Wake up," DeSavage commanded, disappointed that they were both unconscious. Tom held his breath, and hoped his acting skills were good enough to pass DeSavage's scrutiny. He slowly breathed a sigh of relief when the older man turned with frustration towards the door. He waited a beat or two after the lock clicked into place before bringing his head back up to survey the damage done to his partner. She looked bad, real bad. He longed to go to her and make sure she was all right, do anything to ease her pain. Instead he looked around the room for maybe the millionth time since he'd been there, willing, wishing something to change before his eyes to give him some sort of hope that they would make it through this alive. He had realized while he and Cassy had been talking before that even though they both agreed that living as husband and wife wasn't right for them, that he would always love her more than he had said he did, she would always have half of his heart. He needed to tell her that no matter what he would always be there for her, that he could forgive her for anything, even this. He couldn't stand the thought of her dying thinking that he hated her for not speaking, or feeling guilty for anything that happened to him. He trusted her with his life, he always had, this time wasn't any different, he believed that for whatever reason she wasn't saying anything she made the right choice. He prayed with all his soul that they would live through this long enough for him to tell her.  
  
Hour 1 1/2  
  
'Three more places. Just three more. Please, oh please, let it be one of these. If its not, I don't want to think of what's going to happen, we don't have enough time to start over and try to figure it out again.' Harry's blood was full of adrenaline. His heart was pounding against his chest as his men silently surrounded the building. He nodded to the man standing next to the door. The door gave away with a groan. Harry was the second one through the door, his senses more attuned to every movement than they usually were. Five minutes later, it was clear Tom and Cassy were not here, and ten minutes later, the entire building had been searched, cleared and secured. They only had and hour and a half before their time limit ran out. He knew if they were too late, Tom and Cassy were going to be dead. Two more places. He looked at the addresses, willing something to move or appear and lead him to the right place. Nothing so much as flickered across the paper, not that deep down he had ever expected it to, but for some reason he couldn't deny the strange sense of disappointment, or the ever growing feeling of hoplessness. 


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or show, I do this only for the enjoyment.  
  
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Terror in the Night Part 12  
  
Countdown - 75 minutes left  
  
Harry was speeding and he knew it, he also didn't care. The next place on the list was almost twenty minutes away and by that time they would only have 45 minutes left. As soon as the car in front of him turned down a side road he pressed harder on the gas, the lights flashing as he sped down the street.  
  
Cassy groaned softly, trying to find her voice to tell whoever kept saying her name that she was fine. The voice sounded worried and she couldn't quite become lucid enough to place it. Tom's heart gave a little leap at the barely audible groan. He had been calling her name for almost ten minutes. DeSavage still hadn't returned, and Tom wondered what he was up to. "Cassy," he called again, "Cass, wake up." He was rewarded with cloudy blue eyes that struggled to focus on him. "Tom?" she mumbled, "You 'k?" "Yeah, fine. Are you okay?" Another groan came first, followed by a weak response, "I will be." "Cassy, you know what this is about don't you," it wasn't a question, and as much as he wanted her to know he didn't blame her, he couldn't keep all the hurt out of his voice at not being trusted to know what was going on. "Tom," Cassy started, not sure how much she wanted to tell him, "this place might be bugged, waiting for an opportunity just like this to get what they want. I promise I'll explain it to you later." "If we live," showing his usually hidden pessimistic side. "I promise," she repeated. "So, how do we get out of here?"  
  
58 minutes  
  
Even speeding Harry didn't save close to as much time as he had wanted to. He glanced at his watch for the third time in as many seconds as he closed the car door behind him. He silently directed his men to surround the building again and as soon as everyone was in position and closing in on the door, shots rang out from the direction of the building. "We found them, we got the right place," was the last words Harry said before the bullet found its mark.  
  
"Dammit! I didn't expect them to find us so damn quick," DeSavage swore for the tenth time since he had hung up the phone. According to his sources, the cops had linked him to the crimes and were hitting all his old hangouts. Supposedly this was the next one on the list.  
  
'Dammit! Well, I guess I'll just have to speed things up a little. I don't think I would have gotten much out of them anyway,' he thought with a scowl. He had about five minutes til they got here. Time to start getting ready. He walked to the room where the rest of the men were waiting. "Change of plans," he announced. He was rewarded with five puzzled stares. "Cops found us, they're en route now, so we're just going to go ahead with our plan a little early. I want you out of here now, Jack and Tony, I need you with me." He kept talking as activity stirred around him. "Jack I need you at the upstairs window, we'll need a shooter, Tony, let's get that thing hooked up," he said pointing at the object sitting in the corner, "It's time to see if you can do things as well as you say."  
  
50 minutes  
  
Tom and Cassy jerked their heads to the door as it banged against the wall. One of the men was pushing a cart with a giant black box perched on its upper rack. "Well, it seems my clever little detectives are awake. Too bad we don't have time to play anymore." Tom and Cassy exchanged looks, not quite sure what was going on, but suspicious just the same. The cart was pushed into one of the corners, where the man crouched in front of it, and proceeded to push a complicated series of buttons, and attach a multitude of wires. "What a convenient time to finally wake up," DeSavage continued practically sneering, "It seems your captain is more intelligent than I thought, he's here to save you." Another look passed between the two bound detectives when DeSavage started to laugh. "Little does he know." Tom and Cassy hadn't heard the first few gunshots, and could only faintly hear the gunshots that now resounded through the air. "Guess that's my cue to get out of here," DeSavage said when the shots finally reached his ears, "I'm sure my two partners-in-business will take very good care of you. I can't say as it was nice to know you, so I'll just simply say farewell." He smiled once more on his way out the door, the cocky grin disappearing the second he was alone. Things had not gone the way he had planned, and dammit, he wasn't willing to die without taking his brother with him. Jack could only hold off the cops for so long, and after that who knows what they were going to do. This was one thing they hadn't counted on, he knew he shouldn't have left those idiots of his in charge of the planning of this. They weren't smart enough to count on the cops finding them, and now he was surrounded and without a plan that didn't involve him also dying.  
  
Harry's face turned a pasty white color when the bullet pierced the flesh of his arm. One of the nearest officers ran to his side. "Captain!? Captain, are you all right?" Harry looked down at his shirt, which was becoming saturated with his blood, "What do you think?" "I'm sorry," the man looked embarrassed as he rose to his feet and started shouting orders. "MrCrery, get me a towel to wrap around his arm; Stevens, get an ambulance here ASAP; anyone see where that bullet came from?" No one had seen the shooter, but were now definitely more cautious than they had been a second before. The towel was tied above the wound, which was superficial, but bleeding profusely and hurting like hell.  
  
Jack watched with a sadistic grin as the officer went down clutching his arm. He watched the bustle of activity that followed with pleasure. Finally, he was in control again. He could do whatever he wanted up here, and they couldn't get close enough to stop him. He could just pick them off as they approached the door. The back of the building had been redone so that nothing could penetrate it, not even a cockroach. They way he saw it, things were in his hand. He could take lives, and spare them as he saw fit. He had the power now. No one was going to take it away.  
  
The police had a standoff, all the back up they could get and the nearest FBI swat team was on its way, along with the ambulance they had a feeling would be needed before the day was through. The sniper, who they concluded to be somewhere near the top of the building wasn't letting any of them get even close to the entrance. Time was quickly dwindling and they could only imagine what the killers had planned when the time ran out.  
  
DeSavage was becoming more and more panicked. He was stuck, there was only one other way out, through a secret room in the basement he and his men had used to meet in when this had been one of the frequent stops on his road of crime. He wondered if the passage was still sturdy, it had been awhile, there were some renovations being done in this part of town, and the things hadn't been built for long time use in the first place. But he didn't have any other choice, he needed to get out of here before the cops finally got in. Jack and Tony would just be chalked up to necessary sacrifices. It was the only way.  
  
Tony finally pulled himself up off the floor, satisfied with his work. He should go relieve Jack of his duties, after all he was a better shot than the other man, besides he didn't trust DeSavage's promise that he had a way for them to get out of this, so if things went south, he didn't want to be without a weapon. If he could get the guns away from Jack, then at least he'd have a way to defend himself later. He wasn't stupid, he knew there was a very slim chance of him even making it out of this mess alive, and if he had to die, he was going to take someone else with him when he went. The two cops who had caused all this trouble were watching him closely, trying to figure out what exactly he was doing. He gave them a cold smile as the box in the corner started counting down the seconds to two o'clock. 


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: See part 1  
  
AN: Almost done! =) I'd love to hear what you think of it so far.  
  
  
  
  
  
Terror in the Night Part 13  
  
35 minutes -and counting  
  
The ambulance attendants were trying unsuccessfully to get Harry to sit still so they could stitch up his arm. He was too busy being concerned with the well being of his friends to preoccupy his thoughts with a little flesh wound. At least that's how he saw it. Finally satisfied that they had bandaged him up as much as they were going to at the moment, the exasperated men let him get back to yelling at everyone. Still no one had been able to approach or breach the building. They had no idea how many people were in the building, but officers were patrolling the areas surrounding the building as far away as three blocks. They weren't going to let any of them get away, they were killers who had gunned down innocent tourists, and now they had taken two of their own. There wasn't a single cop on the scene that was going to let them go.  
  
DeSavage finally broke free of the dark tunnel, blinking at the sudden light that was shining through the window of the shed. This was where the passageway came to an end. He wondered who owned the shed and the property now, it couldn't still belong to the same people as it had years ago. He hoped that whoever did claim it as their own had decided not to call in sick today and was currently not at home. He cautiously stepped outside and peeked around the corner of the small shed, jerking back as the police cruiser turned down the street. He waited until it was no longer in sight before slowly inching his way out towards the street preparing to make a run for it. He leaned forward slightly, getting ready to sprint when the sound of a gun being cocked stopped his movement so abruptly he almost fell. He straightened up discretely pulling his gun from the waist of his pants. He paused a second as the owner of the gun yelled to him, "Police! Freeze!" He spun around suddenly firing as soon as his gun was in the right direction. The bullet barely missed the tall man, who had wisely braced himself behind the open door of his car, but his bullet didn't miss. DeSavage fell to the pavement, and watched through a haze of pain as his hands were handcuffed behind his back and a rag was pressed against his shoulder. He could only vaguely hear the rest of the words as the officer read him his rights and loaded him in the back of the car. His only consolation was that even though he was caught at least he'd have the satisfaction of knowing the detectives that had driven him right into the arms of his enemy were going to die anyway. It didn't matter to him who pulled the trigger, in a sense anyway, as long as they didn't make it either. The man driving the car narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the bleeding man's smile.  
  
Tony made his way up to the room where Jack had positioned himself. He didn't know about the bomb DeSavage had hired Tony to put together, and was so caught up in playing god that he didn't even hear the door open or the footsteps walk across the floor and stop next to him. Tony put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. Jack's head jerked up and he shot to his feet the ready gun now pointed at Tony. Tony held up his hands in mock surrender and backed away, growing increasingly nervous at the not quite sane look in Jack's eyes. His eyes widened in shock as the shot rang out and he realized that the bullet had hit him. The last thing he heard as he sank to the ground watching his life seep away with his blood was Jack's laughter.  
  
Jack had taken greater pleasure than before in killing Tony. This time it was up close and personal. This time his victim got to see him in all his power, know his glory before they died. Those on the ground couldn't see that. In seeing Tony he remembered their prisoners. He remembered the girl, and he remembered his rage when the other one had spit in his face. He remembered his promise of revenge, and once again began to smile.  
  
Harry and the rest of the cops were trying to talk to whoever was listening through a bullhorn. So far they had gotten no response. It was as if the shooter couldn't even hear them. He glanced at his watch 20 minutes left before it was 2:00. He looked around and wished for a miracle. "Captain!" Harry moved quickly towards the urgent voice. "What? What is it?" he asked as one of the patrollers stepped out of his car. "Captain, I found one of them. He was about a block away. I don't know how he got there and I didn't see any more of them." Harry looked in the back of the car and the familiar face of Emilio DeSavage stared out at him. Before anyone could react, Harry had the man out of the car and pinned against the trunk. "You better tell your man up there to stand down and let us come in, or you're going to be the next one to die," he bit out, trying to control the total hatred he felt toward the man. DeSavage just smiled, confident that the police captain wouldn't do anything serious in front of everyone, and waiting to make his break. Behind that smile he was feeling a little less confident. That bomb was big and made to explode and take out the whole building and the parking lot around it, which happened to be the police's current place of being. If he didn't figure out some way to get himself farther away from the building than he was, he had a chance of being caught in the blast. That thought did not appeal to him at all.  
  
Tom and Cassy looked on in horror as the timer continued to count down. 19 minutes left. They hadn't heard or seen another soul since Tony had left them here. It was really really quiet. They fought with renewed energy against their ropes. They didn't have time for words as they concentrated all their efforts into getting free.  
  
Jack looked down on the many people scattered across the parking lot. He aimed the gun out the window and fired. And kept firing, hitting as many people as he could with the bullets left in that gun. As soon as everyone was on the verge of hysteria he stopped. 'Let them take care of that,' he thought, 'while I take care of some unfinished business.'  
  
18 minutes  
  
Tom and Cassy's nerves jerked even tighter if that was at all possible when the door started to swing open. Let's just say that neither of them were at all even close to relieved to see Jack standing in the opening. When he grinned at them both and shut the doors behind him their sense of dread grew. "Hello again," he said softly, "How have you all been? Sorry I didn't come to see you before, but there were people telling me to do other things." He laughed, "Me! They tried telling Me what to do. That's okay now, because I showed them all. Now I'm in charge." He walked over to where Cassy was seated and ran a finger over the curve of her cheek. "Now you and I are going to take care of that unfinished business." Cassy took in a deep breath and pulled herself together as best she could. She would not let him control her, she was going to take this opportunity for everything she could. Jack reached behind her to untie her hands from the chair but kept them tied together behind her back. He pinned her arms to her side before she had a chance to try anything, kissing her neck even as she tried to wiggle free. Neither of them noticed Tom stand up as much as the chair would allow him to. He threw himself back down against the chair as hard as he could, breaking one of the legs off. Cassy was watching him now, glad for something else to think about, and wondering what he was doing. Jack was too far gone from reality to even notice, which Tom took to his full advantage. He threw himself and the chair down again, and again until he was rewarded with a loud splintering sound and the chair broke apart enough for him to stand up fully. He rubbed the fraying roped against one of the broken pieces of chair until his hands were free. By this time Jack had Cassy against the wall, once again placing his hands wherever he had the desire to. The only good thing was he was taking his time, unaware that he didn't have any to spare. Tom moved up behind him and brought one of the chair's legs down hard on his head. He slumped down to the floor, unconscious. Cassy was taking deep breaths trying to get her emotions under control, there was time to deal with them later. Tom wrapped her in a tight hug, letting her go way before he wanted to. They both glanced at the timer. Everything that had happened had only taken ten minutes. They had eight minutes left to get out of the building. They hit the doors running and followed the hall until they hit a flight of stairs. They went down and down until they couldn't go down anymore and gasping for air took a look around the hall they were in. They had no idea where to go now. Tom turned to go right, but Cassy put a hand on his arm, stopping him. "This way," she said indicating the left. "Cassy, this is no time to be bossy. I say right." "No, I think I remember coming in here. It's left, I promise." "You better be right," he mumbled as they both took off running down the hall. There was a flash of light, sunlight! Just up ahead. Freedom.  
  
Panicked people on the ground were still trying to assess the injuries. DeSavage now lay still beneath a white sheet. Harry thought it was kind of fitting that he had been killed by a stray bullet from one of his own guns. Three people had been wounded in the most recent storm of bullets, but luckily there were no casualties, unless you counted DeSavage, that is. "Freeze! Stay where you are and put your hands up!" Harry ran over to the front line of cars to see what was going on. Two figures sprinted out the door, halting to a stop at the order. Harry laughed out loud. "Lower your weapons; Don't shoot!" he shouted through the bullhorn before he ran into the clear area of the parking lot to wrap his arms around the two detectives in a very un-Harry-like action. As soon as he realized what he was doing he jerked away, embarrassed, but even then he couldn't seem to wipe the grin off his face at finding out they were still alive. Pretty banged up, he conceded looking them both over quickly, but they were still alive. The only thing wrong was they didn't look very relieved themselves. 


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the show.  
  
AN: Well, here it is-the end! I hope you enjoyed it. Tell me either way.  
  
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Terror in the Night Part 14  
  
2 ½ minutes  
  
As soon as Tom saw the crowd of people crowded around the building, his smile of elation disappeared. He glanced over at Cassy to see the same conclusion coming to light in her eyes. He reached out and grabbed the bullhorn from his shocked captain and directed it toward the crowd. "Everyone, move back! Get away from the building! Run now! There's a bomb! Get back from the building!" Everyone started scrambling to get back, cars screeched in reverse and those who weren't in cars started to run. No one was going to take the chance of getting stuck to close to the building. Tom, Harry, and Cassy were right behind them. The lack of houses near the old hotel saved them the trouble of trying to evacuate homes, even though they wouldn't have had even close to enough time. A loud sound stopped everyone and they all turned around to watch the places they had been standing just minutes before become engulfed in flame and rubble from the building. No one moved as the explosions continued, removing almost all traces of the building from sight. The fire department wasted no time in trying to control the flames. The site on which the building had been located was a sea of brick and dust. By the time the fire was out completely, only a few homes in the surrounding area reported minimal fire and smoke damage, even though they were two blocks away. The last count before the ambulance pulled away was three dead, ten injured.  
  
"Harry, really, I'm fine now. I don't think I can stay here another day!" Harry sighed in frustration, "Cassy, I just went through the same thing with Tom, you are both staying here another day, and you aren't leaving until the doctor says you can go. I don't care how you feel, you'll wait until he's ready to let you go, and I don't want to hear another word about it." Cassy opened her mouth to protest again, but shut it at the look on Harry's face. She wasn't going to get anywhere with him. She gave him a dirty look as she dropped back against the pillow. Her broken fingers had been set, her various bruises and cuts attended to, and besides a minor concussion and one broken rib, she really did feel as good as new. She just wished the doctors would believe her. She had been ordered to stay in bed for yet another day before she would be turned free.  
  
Harry gave her another warning look before he headed home himself. As soon as he was out of sight, Cassy swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She wanted to go see how Tom was doing, but they hadn't let her out of her room since she came in the day before. 'O-well, ' she thought, 'I was never one for obeying orders.' She had no trouble finding Tom's room down the hall, and opened the door to find him getting out of bed himself. He looked worse than she did, coming out of it with three broken ribs, a broken jaw, and a moderate concussion. "Hey sunshine, you're sure to win that beauty pageant today," she greeted him with a smile. He just scowled at her, "You're not looking much better, you know." She just smiled wider, "I know, we do make a cute couple, don't we?" Tom sat back down on the bed as Cassy walked over to take residence in the chair next to the window. "Tom, I really am sorry," Cassy started, not hiding the guilty look on her face. Tom cut her off. "Cassy, it's all right, I understand. Harry told me all about it. You never told me you worked the DeSavage case." "I guess it just never came up, I wasn't supposed to talk about it with anyone, and to tell you the truth I didn't even think of it hardly ever. It was over and done with and just didn't seem important." Tom rose from the bed again to give her another hug. "I understand, and I don't blame you. I promise. I would have done the same thing, or at least I'd like to think I had the courage to do what you did." Cassy pulled back to look at his face, searching for any hint of insincerity. She found none. She had cried her tears over what had happened, and it seemed like Tom had too. She settled back in his arms with a sigh. They were going to get past this, just like they had everything else in their lives. This wasn't a tragedy, it was just another time to remind them that they always had each other, and each other's love, even in the face of death and secrets; another day to bring them closer together. 


End file.
